Christmas is Fun

Growing up, my family had prime rib for Thanksgiving dinner.  It wasn’t until I was teenager that I learned that is not the norm.  When I asked my mom why we didn’t have turkey for Thanksgiving like my friends did, my mom said that Nammie (my grandmother) felt like she could never live up to her mother’s Thanksgiving dinner with the perfectly cooked turkey.  So, she made her own Thanksgiving tradition.

In one way this is genius.  However, in another way, it’s a little sad.  My grandmother might have felt small compared to her mother.  I never asked her about it, and she never brought it up. 

I have tried to keep some old family traditions, while creating our own new ones.  When I was young, my mother had a huge (and I mean huge) Christmas village.  My dad would spend an entire weekend setting up the terrain, rewiring the lights, making sure everything was perfect.  Once everything was placed, it could not be touched.

My family also has a Christmas village.  However, it’s been invaded by my son’s WarHammer 40K army and my spouse’s Skylanders.  It’s been beset by fire (my daughter’s boyfriend’s brilliant idea to have red tissue paper come out of the tiny house windows).  Every day, new mayhem befalls the poor town’s residents.  We have a marvelous time.

We treat our little village differently, but it still connects me to the villages I helped set up and admired as a little girl.  We remember Micah Holmes, a Peace member who passed away 18 months ago, who would add his unique spin on the villager mayhem.  We invite anyone who comes over to change the scene in a way that speaks to them, perhaps by pretending a tiny car has crashed into the gazebo.

The holidays are fun and chaotic; wonderful and awful.  I do my best when the bar is low, and nothing is too precious. In today’s sermon, Holly said, “Graveyards are full of indispensable men.”  The same is true of holiday traditions.  Some feel indispensable in a way that can be smothering.  Traditions can ink us the past, while staying relevant.

Maybe the fancy restaurant dinner becomes a potluck.  The gift exchange becomes a white elephant game and donation to Micah Ministries.  The Christmas village can be a free-for-all.  Serve prime rib or hamburgers instead.  Play Handel’s Messiah sung by the London symphony or Silent Night off-key with family and friends.  Whatever you do, stay calm and make sure to love each other.  That’s what will make it a great Christmas.

Creator,

Help us to have a great Christmas.  The story of Jesus’ birth does not involve a perfectly decorated home, mouth-watering homemade sugar cookies, or crafted ornaments on a sparkly Christmas tree.  Instead, it’s a season to give us life and love, and not stress.

Amen

Michelle is a Safety Manager with the Department of Veterans Affairs. She’s a reader, listener, and travel enthusiast.